With Touch the Dark, Karen Chance takes her place along with Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson, and J.D. Robb to give us a strong woman who doesn't wait to be rescued -- she takes responsibility for herself. Cassandra has learned to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself. She's also learned that trust can be misplaced, so trust yourself first. It's not necessarily the best rule to live by but for Cassie it works especially when dealing with vampires and ghosts.

The story is fast paced. I was hooked by the middle of the first chapter. The action never stops. We learn at lot about the vampire hierarchy and their interactions with the dark and light circles of witches and warlocks, the Weres, and the Fey. But nothing is quite what you've read about before. There are slight but telling differences that require the reader to pay attention to the clues. It is this slight variation on the mythos and that makes for some new possibilities.

My only problem with the story was an irrational desire to smack Cassie with a clue stick. She always seemed to be avoiding informational meetings in order to escape to do the very thing she needed the information for. So instead of learning what she needed she had to fly by the seat of her pants. It really irks me when characters, who seem otherwise intelligent and savvy, turn ditzy in order to further the plot. But the book was so engrossing that I could put these complaints aside because Cassie came through for me in the end. Honest, the end pulls it together even without the use of the clue stick.

Recommended. And, I'm looking forward to see what Karen Chance does next.

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